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The news of the death of Brig Ravi Dutt Mehta, the Army attache in the Indian Embassy in Afghanistan, on July 7 in a terrorist attack came as a shock to his friends in Shimla. Kalu, as all childhood friends called Brigadier Mehta, was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the Army in the 1970s. Later, our friendship grew deeper and our group grew bigger with lots of common friends. From then on whenever he came to Shimla for his leave, we used to have great fun and get-togethers at joints on The Mall and at other places for almost two decades. Our entire group used to long for his leave. He had a great liking for loud music and once narrated an incident. “While looking for a music system in a show room, I settled for a big sound system and asked my father accompanying me for his opinion on the system. Prompt came the reply: ‘Look son, I also want to live in the same house,” recalled Brigadier Mehta. Ravi Mehta and I maintained a close link through long letters while he was posted at Ambala, Mahu, Panchmarhi and other places but lost contact with him when I moved away from Shimla. He was posted in Udhampur when he last met me, and I kept getting his news from his brother Rakesh Mehta or Justice Deepak Gupta. Mehta, as a young Army officer, had great zest for life but always maintained strict discipline. A student of St Edward’s School, Shimla, his school mates Harsh Mahajan (former minister), Deepak (Justice Deepak Gupta), Rajiv Dutta and others always used to narrate incidents linked with him. Though Mehta was a ‘friend of friends,’ he never discussed matters related to his job. He was an efficient Army Intelligence Officer. He was posted as Officer Commanding in Sikkim at Gangtok in 1983. I had gone to meet him in Gangtok from Kolkata, where I was working for my Ph D in the national library. He was always involved in his work even during free time. In Army circles at Gangtok he was a much respected officer. I was proud of my friend commanding such respect among fellow officers. He had the capability of learning dialects and foreign languages, and had learnt Bhoti and Nepali in Sikkim. He used to talk to local people fluently in their local dialects and had learnt several foreign languages. Mehta was always enthusiastic about his refresher courses and trainings. After attending one important course he used to say confidently: “I now qualify for a few top positions in the Army.”
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